


Welcome To Sanctuary

by telperion_15



Category: Primeval
Genre: Angst and Humor, Cancellation, Crack, Gen, M/M, Sanctuary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-12
Updated: 2012-02-12
Packaged: 2017-10-31 01:12:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/338270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/telperion_15/pseuds/telperion_15
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sanctuary gets some new residents, thanks to a mysterious process known as 'cancellation'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome To Sanctuary

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for episodes 3.03, 3.09 and 3.10.
> 
> A note about Sanctuary:  
> Sanctuary is the brainchild of mysteriousaliwz, and was created as a refuge for all those characters that The Powers That Be saw fit, in their wisdom, to kill off. The original residents were Ryan and Stephen, but that has now expanded to include several others, as well as a host of occasional visitors.
> 
> The authorship of Sanctuary has expanded too, and now many authors play in this sandpit, and bear a more than a passing resemblance to Sanctuary’s all-seeing Management…
> 
> For more info about Sanctuary, see [here](%E2%80%9Chttp://primeval-denial.livejournal.com/2807651.html%E2%80%9D), and for a list of the stories written about Sanctuary, see [ here](%E2%80%9Chttp://primeval-denial.livejournal.com/2807141.html%E2%80%9D).
> 
> A note about OCs:  
> Primeval fandom on LiveJournal has generated a number of fanon OCs, created by different authors and freely used by others, to the extent that some of them have now taken on lives of their own. The one that appears in this fic, Lyle, belongs to fredbassett.

  
Ryan flipped the lid off his third bottle of beer, and relaxed into the sofa cushions. It really had been decent of Management to broaden their horizons a bit, but sometimes a guy needed a little R & R. And a football match.  
  
Stephen and Cutter’s good-natured banter about St. Mirren’s once more abysmal performance was interrupted by a loud yell coming from one of the bedrooms. The other two jumped visibly, but Ryan remained unperturbed.  
  
“Sounds like Connor’s dropped in again,” he remarked casually.  
  
Stephen and Cutter looked momentarily relieved, and then Stephen’s brow crinkled, rather adorably in Ryan’s opinion, into a frown.  
  
“Doesn’t he usually use the front door, though?” he questioned.  
  
“It’s Connor – he’s never been what you might call conventional.”  
  
But Ryan nonetheless looked round as Connor appeared in the bedroom doorway, looking rather rumpled, and more than a little confused.  
  
“What the hell happened? One minute I was falling out of a tree, the next I’m landing on your bed!” He looked accusingly at Stephen and Ryan.  
  
Ryan held up a placating hand. “Hey, you know it’s nothing to do with us.”  
  
“And besides, if you will go falling out of trees…” Stephen added.  
  
“But I didn’t even hit the ground!” Connor protested. “No concussion, no unconsciousness, no nothing. And believe me, I know what that feels like! I was falling, and then I was here.”  
  
“Erm, guys,” Cutter piped up suddenly. “Where’s his visitors pass?”  
  
Ryan’s eyes swept over the young man. Cutter was right – no pass was visible anywhere.  
  
“Oh shit,” Stephen muttered quietly.  
  
“But he can’t be…people don’t just…in mid air!” Cutter stuttered.  
  
Swivelling his eyes upwards, Ryan opened his mouth to demand an explanation, but before he could call out, there was another loud noise, this time from the kitchen. It sounded rather like a thud, and was followed by some colourful swearing.  
  
“Oh, crikey…” Connor hurried over to the kitchen door, and pulled it open. A figure unfamiliar to any of Sanctuary’s three permanent residents stood there.  
  
“Who the hell are you?” Ryan asked dangerously.  
  
“Guys, this is Danny Quinn. He was working on the anomaly project after…well, after you, professor.” Connor directed an apologetic look at Cutter.  
  
“Connor, what is this place?” Quinn looked shocked, to say the least, and Connor cleared his throat awkwardly a couple of times.  
  
“Um, well, it’s complicated to explain.”  
  
“This is Sanctuary. You come here when you die,” said Stephen succinctly, and rather tactlessly, Ryan thought.  
  
“What? But…I’m not dead. All I did was trip over a rock as I was walking. I stumbled, and suddenly found myself falling against a fridge!”  
  
“This is getting weird,” said Stephen quietly.  
  
Ryan tried to call upwards again, but this time he was interrupted by a quiet, but very _pointed_ , click. The sort of click you get when someone disengages the safety on a gun.  
  
As one, they all turned in the direction of the garden doors, to find themselves looking down the wrong end of an automatic rifle. A gun held by a distinctly pissed off looking Becker.  
  
“Where am I?” the soldier asked dangerously. “And what are you all doing here?”  
  
“It’s okay, captain,” Ryan said soothingly. “You’re in no danger here.”  
  
Becker didn’t lower his gun.  
  
“Seriously,” Connor said earnestly. “It’s fine. Well, not fine, exactly, but…”  
  
“Oh, for god’s sake, man!” exclaimed Cutter. “Can you see anything here that’s trying to eat you?”  
  
The gun wavered slightly, and then with a sigh Becker finally let the muzzle drop. “No,” he admitted. “Although there was a rather devious looking rabbit in the garden.”  
  
Ryan and Stephen looked at each other in alarm. “A bunny?” Stephen demanded. “Really?”  
  
“Yes.” Becker looked a bit confused by the sudden tension in the room. “But I brandished my gun at it, and it hopped off over the back fence.”  
  
Stephen sagged in relief. “That’s okay, then,” he sighed.  
  
“You have to watch out for the bunnies here,” Ryan told Becker seriously. “They’re no ordinary rabbits.”  
  
“And where exactly is here?” Becker asked, looking like he was considering brandishing his gun again.  
  
“Yeah, I’m still not clear on that myself,” said Danny.  
  
“If you’ll just hang on a moment, we’ll try and get some answers,” Ryan said. He was being reminded rather uncomfortably of the last time Sanctuary had become over-crowded, and he was starting to get worried.  
  
This time there were no interruptions. “Management!” he yelled.  
  
“ _Yes?_ ” The female voice sounded entirely too innocent, its disembodied nature causing Danny and Becker to look wildly around, startled.  
  
“Explanation, please,” Ryan demanded.  
  
“ _Well…_ ” The duty manager sounded a little shifty. “ _In a nutshell, you got cancelled._ ”  
  
“What the hell does _that_ mean?” Danny asked.  
  
“ _Well, um, think of it as like being in limbo. Or perhaps purgatory_ ,” the duty manager elaborated.  
  
“Well, thanks, that makes everything so much clearer,” Becker said sarcastically.  
  
“Management, is this like last time?” Ryan said quietly.  
  
“ _Not quite_ ,” said the duty manager. “ _This time_ we _brought them here, for their own safety. There’s no place for them outside any more._ ”  
  
“This might explain the new extensions that Maintenance have been working on,” Stephen said.  
  
“Are they here permanently, then?” Ryan asked  
  
“ _I’m afraid they are,_ ” came the reply. “ _Under the circumstances, we decided it was much the best course of action._ ”  
  
“Don’t we get a say in this?” Danny questioned hotly. He didn’t look very happy about the prospect of ‘permanently’.  
  
“Just accept it,” Ryan told him gently. “It’s easier that way.”  
  
“It’s not so bad here,” Cutter added. “Once you get used to it, it’s quite nice, actually.” He shot a sideways glance at Stephen, who raised a hand to his mouth to hide a smile.  
  
“Hey!” Connor sounded suddenly anxious. “If I’m here, then where’s Abby? She fell out of the tree too!”  
  
“Abby fell out of a tree?” Stephen said. “That doesn’t sound like her.”  
  
“Well, it’s a bit hard to keep your balance when a T-Rex is head-butting it in an effort to get its next meal,” Connor said.  
  
“A T.Rex?” said Cutter. “Where exactly was this tree, Connor?”  
  
“In the cretaceous.”  
  
“And where was your rock?” the professor asked Danny.  
  
“Er, I’m not entirely clear on that,” replied Danny. “There were…what were they called? Oh, yeah, early hominids.”  
  
“Pliocene,” Cutter said, nodding.  
  
“ _Abby is fine,_ ” the duty manager interrupted pleasantly. “ _She’s next door with the rest of the girls._ ”  
  
“The rest of the girls?” Danny repeated faintly.  
  
“ _Yes. Claudia’s been here for a while, obviously. Christine and Helen arrived not long ago. There were a few catfights, but things seem to have settled down now. Sarah, of course, has just arrived, the same as Abby._ ”  
  
“So Sarah’s okay, then?” Becker asked. “That’s good.”  
  
“Was she with you?” Ryan said.  
  
“Yes. We both stepped through an anomaly. But instead of ending up in the future, I found myself in your back garden being eyed by a rabbit.”  
  
“Wait a minute…” Cutter was looking around. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but if you’re gathering everybody up, then where’s Lester?”  
  
“ _Oh…_ ” The duty manager sounded faintly confused. “ _Isn’t he there?_ ”  
  
“No,” said Ryan. “He’s not.”  
  
“ _Erm, if you’d just hang on for a moment…_ ”  
  
There was a few seconds of silence, followed by a somewhat muffled conversation as the duty manager spoke to someone else.  
  
“ _What do you mean he’s not there? Where is he, then?_ ”  
  
“ _I don’t know. Check the entry logs, will you?_ ”  
  
“ _Oh my god, how did he get there? Get him out, quick!_ ”  
  
The six men in the living room were shooting each other alternately amused and apprehensive looks, wondering what fate Lester had been subjected to.  
  
“Everything alrigh…?” Stephen started to ask, just as the doorbell rang.  
  
Ryan hurried to answer it, and found a somewhat ruffled James Lester standing on the threshold.  
  
“Are you okay?” he asked curiously.  
  
Lester straightened his tie and stepped inside. “I’ve had better days,” he said shortly.  
  
“ _Er, hello, Sir James…_ ” The duty manager now sounded slightly nervous. “ _How are you feeling?_ ”  
  
“About as well as I could be expected to feel after finding myself in Oliver Leek’s bedroom,” Lester replied curtly.  
  
“ _We’re very sorry, Sir James. It was a terrible mistake…_ ”  
  
“Just make sure it never happens again. That is one place I _never_ want to return to.”  
  
“ _Of course, Sir James…_ ”  
  
“Although I do feel compelled to ask about the presence of an over-friendly future predator.”  
  
“ _Oh, that’s Dave…_ ” began a second disembodied voice brightly, before it was hurriedly shushed by the first.  
  
Lester paled slightly. “On second thoughts, I don’t think I want to know,” he said faintly.  
  
“Dave’s harmless,” Stephen said mischievously, as the civil servant went a little green around the gills. “Although it’s best not to enquire about what they do in private…”  
  
“Oh, stop tormenting the poor man,” Ryan admonished him, although he couldn’t stop the grin from playing around his own mouth. Lester wasn’t the only one looking ill – both Danny and Becker had turned a nasty shade of grey.  
  
“Yes, well, there seems to be quite a crowd here today,” Lester observed, obviously determined to change the subject. “Although I can’t help noticing some absences. Jon’s late again, I see.”  
  
“ _It’s taking a bit longer to round everyone else up_ ,” the duty manager informed him. “ _They’re a bit spread out. Don’t worry, they’ll be here soon._ ”  
  
“In the meantime, why don’t we give the new residents a tour?” suggested Stephen. “Connor, you want to help me?”  
  
“Sure,” the young man replied. “I need to check the state of the WiFi access anyway. If we’re stuck here, I’m going to need the Internet.”  
  
“Are you coming, Lester?” Danny asked.  
  
“Why should I? This isn’t my first visit,” Lester replied.  
  
Danny’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, but before he could comment Connor was dragging him away.  
  
Ryan, Cutter, and Lester sat down. The football match had finished (St. Mirren had been flattened 4-0), and Ryan turned the TV off.  
  
“Am I to understand that we’re here for good, then?” Lester asked.  
  
“Seems that way,” answered Ryan. “Although as usual, Management are being a bit cagey about why.”  
  
Lester shrugged. “I suppose there are worse places to be.” He eyed the front door impatiently. “Although I really hope Lieutenant Lyle gets here soon.”  
  
Ten minutes later, Stephen, Connor, Danny, and Becker reappeared, Stephen’s, “…and here we are back at the living room,” finishing their tour with a flourish.  
  
“Well, you’ve certainly got all the mod cons here,” Danny observed. He seemed particularly taken by the now switched off plasma screen, his tension evaporating in the face of the inevitability of the situation, as Ryan had predicted.  
  
“It’s certainly not uncomfortable,” Ryan acknowledged.  
  
But Becker’s eyes seemed to have been drawn to something else. “What’s that for?” he asked, nodding towards the rocket launcher set up in the corner of the room.  
  
“Protection,” answered Stephen. “Management can get a bit…over-enthusiastic…sometimes.”  
  
“They haven’t done anything permanent,” Ryan said placatingly.  
  
“Yet,” Stephen muttered pointedly.  
  
Becker and Danny looked faintly alarmed, but obviously decided not to ask. Although the slightly shifty clearing of throats coming from above their heads didn’t help matters.  
  
“It’s also good for the bunnies,” Ryan added. “They can be persistent little buggers.”  
  
“If you see one, let us know immediately,” Stephen stressed.  
  
“So what do you do around here when you’re not watching football, drinking beer, or hunting wabbits?” Danny asked.  
  
“Sometimes we watch rugby,” replied Cutter, his morose tone indicating exactly what he thought of _that_.  
  
“And you might have noticed the _other_ anomaly on the other side of the garden fence, for when you feel like getting out and about,” said Ryan. “Although…” He looked upward again. “Can we still go for a wander, Management?”  
  
“ _Oh, yes_ ,” the duty manager assured him cheerfully. “ _The Fuckwits In Charge won’t be getting their hands on that one, you mark my words. Or any of this place, for that matter._ ”  
  
The capital letters were obvious, and Ryan had a sneaking suspicion that these Fuckwits In Charge weren’t people any of them wanted to meet any time soon. He suddenly felt a bit more grateful towards Management.  
  
“So, TV, beer, target practice, exploring,” listed Danny. “What else?”  
  
“Well…” Ryan grinned as Stephen sat down beside him, the other man’s hand settling on his thigh. “I’m sure there’s plenty of other activities we can interest you in…”  
  
His grin widened as Danny and Becker’s expressions turned shocked, and then just as quickly speculative. Lester sighed loudly.  
  
“Really, it’s ridiculous how quickly everyone ‘adapts’ to this place,” the civil servant said. But his voice didn’t sound as long-suffering as his sigh had, and Ryan chuckled as Connor winked at him.  
  
“Gentlemen,” he said, addressing Danny and Becker. “Welcome to Sanctuary.”


End file.
